


Happy Together

by lauralovestonystark



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: AU, Avengers AU, Bisexual Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel), Bisexual Steve Rogers, Bisexual Tony Stark, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Genderfluid Loki (Marvel), Irondad, Lesbian Carol Danvers, M/M, Mild Language, No Endgame, No Infinity War, Pansexual Loki (Marvel), Tony Stark Has A Heart, but still a bit of sadness because its realistic, everyone is happy, idk - Freeform, marvel AU, spiderson, theres litterally only fluff, will probably add more - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2020-07-29 10:16:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20080552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lauralovestonystark/pseuds/lauralovestonystark
Summary: Are you looking for a happy Marvel fic to forget Endgame ever happened? Do you want tons of fluff and only a tiny bit of angst (sometimes)? Do you just want everyone to be alive and happy? Well then this is the fic for you! In here you will find Tony Stark as a Dad, Thor with memes, adorable Morgan Stark, and more!OrEveryone is happy (and alive), no horrible disaster like Infinity War or Endgame happened (while still keeping a few of the good things that happened in those movies). Thanos is nonexistent. Everyone got their happy life, the one they always dreamed about. The story starts a few days before Morgan's birthday party. All of the Avengers are invited and they're staying at the Headquarters afterwards for a while, catching up and having fun.





	1. "Pilot"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introduction!

“Clint, I just- I can’t do it, okay? I’ve tried everything.”

“Tony, listen to me. It’s not that hard. Once you’ve got it under control, it gets easier.”

“You’re the one saying that, huh? You’ve done this for years, three times, even. What if I’ll never be as good as you?”

“You are amazing at this, Tony. It just takes time and practice sometimes. Have you called Pepper?”

“She’s not answering, she’s too busy being in a meeting. That’s why I called you in the first place.”

“Okay… Hold on, I think I got Scott on the line. The more help we have, the easier it'll be.”

“Hey guys, what’s the problem?”

“I’ve tried everything, and she won’t give in.”

“Okay, uh, there’s this one method but it’s kind of risky. If it works, you’re good forever. It’s called… the Airplane Method.”

“Scott, he already tried that. It didn’t work.”

“What? How?”

“I… built an airplane on the spoon. I think the flashy lights scared her.”

“Oh, Tony. That’s too much for a two-year-old.”

“That’s what I told him, Scott.”

Tony glanced back at the spoon, and back at his daughter. He sighed and inched the spoon closer to her.

“Come on, sweetheart. Please. Eat your apple sauce for Daddy. See? The spoon has even got tiny elephants on it!” Tony smiled lightly at Morgan, maybe showing a bit of desperation, but she wouldn’t take the food. Instead she let out a small whimper and pushed the spoon away. Tony bowed his head down for a moment, before shooting it up at an unfamiliar sound. There was a loud boom coming from the door, almost as if someone kicked it down, which diverted Morgan’s attention to said door.

“Mr. Stark! I came as soon as I could!” Peter, still holding the mask of his suit in his hand, his bag slipped over his one shoulder, ran into the kitchen where the billionaire and his daughter were.

“Clint, Scott, it’s fine. I got backup. Don’t worry,” Tony told the two fathers before waving up at the ceiling, signaling FRIDAY to end the call. Scott and Clint said their goodbyes and Peter got closer to the highchair.

“Kid, I’ve tried everything, but she won’t eat,” Tony sighed.

“Peter!” Morgan giggled happily at the sight of the younger superhero and he waved slightly at her with a small smile.

“Have you tried the airplane method? That usually work-”

“It failed miserably and probably scarred her of airplanes for life,” Tony cut him off, putting his face in his hands.

“Well, how did you do the airplane method?” Peter asked quietly, after a while of silence.

“Are there different ways to do so?” Tony frowned up at the teenager.

“Yeah! You need to do it in a soft way, make her laugh maybe, don’t force anything or make it boring. Like this.” Peter took the spoon from the engineer’s hand, who backed away to let him do what he had to. He watched as Peter made small noises as he moved the spoon around and closer to the toddler. Morgan giggled and opened her mouth happily. Tony was shocked and frankly, kind of embarrassed. He still thought his miniature small airplane model was better. The elephant spoon didn’t even have a functioning motor and blinking lights.

Peter got Morgan to finish her applesauce, wiping away some extra that had appeared around her mouth in the process. He lifted her up and held her in her arms, turning to face Tony.

“I hope that helped,” Peter said, smiling at him. Tony didn’t admit that he was very shocked at how easily Peter handled the situation.

“That’s, uh, that’s great, Pete,” He said, grabbing Morgan from Peter’s arms. “By the way, why are you still in your suit? Were you on some sort of mission?”

“I… may have been on patrol around the city… and gone straight to the headquarters when you called…” Peter admitted in a small voice. Tony deadpanned.

“Seriously? Why would you even do that? What if it wasn’t important at all?” Tony asked slightly harsh, lightly bouncing Morgan in his arms.

“I just, I wanted to be there for you! And Morgan! I wanted to help!” The teenager argued.

“I know, it’s just…” Tony sighed, not wanting to get angry at Peter. He really did nothing wrong. “Thank you. I really appreciate it. But if it’s something unimportant and you’re on a mission or on patrol, I need you to stay where you are and continue doing your job,” Tony said in a soft voice.

“I will, Mr. Stark,” The boy nodded, smiling.

“Peter! Come play, please,” Morgan said in her toddler-like language and Tony smiled lightly, putting her down so she could walk over to Peter, who agreed happily. They sat down together, face-to-face, playing with one of Morgan’s toys that was laying around.

“Hey, Mr. Stark, I heard that we were having visitors soon. Who’s coming over?” Peter asked, turning his head to look at Tony who was fiddling with his tablet.

“Uh, well, I wanted everyone to come over for Morgan’s second birthday since it’s been a while since the last time she saw them. I just want her to see her aunts and uncles again; she probably doesn’t even remember the last time she did,” Tony explained. “I invited all of the Avengers, our non-superhero friends, the galaxy crew, even got a message to Thor and his gang. A lot of them said they were coming, but it’s still not 100% certain.”

“That’s so cool! Got anything special planned for her?” Peter asked the older man whilst still playing with Morgan.

“Pete,” Tony looked up from his tablet with a deadpanned expression. “You’re seriously asking me, Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, former-playboy, philanthropist, if I’ve got something special planned for my own, extremely adorable daughter. It’s like you don’t even know me.”

Peter chuckled slightly at his words as Morgan handed him another of her many, many toys.

“Are you even sure she knows what a birthday is?” Peter asked.

“I think so. She’s seen plenty of others before, Peppers, yours, even mine. She’s got Stark genes; she’ll figure it out.” Tony said, smiling down at her daughter when she handed him a toy.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Peter nodded slightly, turning his attention towards Morgan again while Tony looked back at his tablet.

"Boss," FRIDAY spoke up softly, as to not scare the toddler. "Miss Potts is calling you. Shall I pick up?" The AI asked.

"Sure, put her on the line," Tony answered.

"Tony? Are you there?" Pepper's voice resonated through the room.

"Yep, I'm here," he said, popping the "p". "And I've got Peter and-"

"Mommy!" Morgan cut off, hearing the familiar voice.

"Hi sweetie, are you having fun with Daddy and Peter?" Pepper asked, and Morgan answered with a small ‘yes’. "That’s great. Anyway, Tony, I just got out of my meeting and apparently, Steve, Bucky and Sam are coming in early. They said they'll arrive in around half an hour. Just a heads up." Pepper explained. "Also, I'm on my way to pick up the P-R-E-S-E-N-T and C-A-K-E for you-know-who so I'll be home a little later than usual." She said, spelling out some words since Morgan had caught up on those a while ago and they didn't want to ruin the surprise for the little girl.

"That's great, Pep." Tony fiddled more with his tablet. "I'll make sure their rooms are ready."

"Okay, I'll see you later. Bye, Tony. I love you." She told him.

"I love you, Mommy." Morgan spoke up before Tony could, making Pepper chuckle a bit before hanging up.

"Hey, you stole my line!" Tony looked down at Morgan, setting his hands on his hips, looking down at her with a fake angry expression. Morgan just giggled at him, which made Peter smile.

"I love you, Daddy." She tried and Tony chuckled before setting his device aside and picking her up in his arms.

"I could never be mad at you; I love you too much!" He swung her around a bit, making her giggle more.

Peter looked at the two and smiled to himself. He had never seen Tony that happy, and that made him feel ever so awkward, as if he was intruding or bothering them in their moment. He knew he would never be as close to Tony as Morgan is. Instead, he just watched the father and daughter with a sad smile.

"Peter!" Morgan called out, snapping Peter away from his thoughts. "Wanna hug. You and Daddy." She said, as if she knew what he was feeling.

"I think that's called a group hug, sweetheart." Tony corrected, kissing her cheek. Peter stood up and walked over to the two, feeling Morgan's arms wrap around his neck tightly, almost swearing that he felt one of Tony's arms coming around him too.

Peter felt peaceful in that moment. It hadn’t been that often where he’d get to hug Mr. Stark. The few times it happened, were never on purpose, though. But this time it felt real. The word “family” kept creeping up in his mind, but he ignored it. he wasn’t a part of their family; he probably never would be. But right now, he was happy and that was all that mattered. They had stayed like that for a while until Peter felt slightly uncomfortable and decided to take a few steps back.

“Right, how about we prepare the rooms for Capsicle and his friends?” Tony spoke up.

“Uncle Stevie!” Morgan said cheerfully. She was used to her father’s many nicknames.

“You coming, Pete?” Tony asked the teenager, bouncing Morgan in his arms slightly.

“Uh, no, I think I’ll just go home. I’ve got a lot of homework for tomorrow and I haven’t started yet. But, thanks anyway.” Peter answered, grabbing his stuff.

“Bye bye, Peter!” Morgan flashed him a big smile, waving at him with her hand. Peter gave them both one last smile before walking off, closing the door behind him.

“Now,” Tony started after Peter had walked off. “Which color should Cap’s bedsheets be?” He asked the toddler.

“Blue!” She answered immediately. “And red.” She added, which made Tony chuckle.

Peter went home that day, feeling troubled. He didn’t feel like him and Mr. Stark had the same close relationship anymore. Ever since Morgan was born, he was always busy taking care of her, even now. He understood why, and frankly he loved Morgan so much and would do anything for her just as much as Tony did. Peter just missed the late Friday nights they’d spend in the lab together. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was slightly jealous of Morgan.

He unlocked the front door of his and May’s apartment, knowing she would be home late today. He changed out of his suit and into some comfortable clothes, laying down in his bed and sighing heavily. The homework due was lie. He just didn’t have the heart to tell Mr. Stark the truth. His phone dinged, signaling a new message, and he reached out to grab it. It was from Tony.

_“Hey kid, wanna hang tomorrow afternoon at the lab?”_

Holy shit, Peter thought. As many times as it happened, he always got excited when Tony wanted to hang out with him. He got used to the texts after a while, but then Morgan came along, and they stopped for a bit. Peter texted Tony back, rather quickly in his own opinion, but right now that didn’t matter. Things were going back to being like the old days, and Peter was happy about it.

_“Sure Mr. Stark!! I’ll see you at 3”_

“Uncle Steve!” Morgan yelled out happily when she noticed the slightly sweaty blond walking into the kitchen. “Breakfast time now?” she asked her father, who was chugging down his 5th cup of coffee.

“Sure, kid,” Tony gave her a tired morning-smile, taking out a yogurt from the fridge and 3 different spoons. “Which spoon do you want, munchkin? We’ve got Iron man, the blue one, or the one with flowers,” Tony explained as Steve looked at the father and daughter with a small smile.

“Uhmmm…” Morgan observed each spoon with concentration. “Iron man,” She finally decided, and Steve couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as he took out something to drink for himself.

“Great choice, sweetheart. I’ve taught you well,” Tony approached his daughter with the spoon and the yogurt, showing a smile. He sat down in front of his daughter and started feeding her, remembering some of the advice Peter gave him the day before. This time, though, there was no problem.

“So,” Tony started, hoping to get Steve’s attention. “Had a good morning run?”

“Yeah, I guess. Nothing really interesting happened.” Steve answered.

“Didn’t you take your running companion with you this time?”

“Sam? No, he wanted to sleep in for once. We had a long day yesterday.” Steve took a sip of his orange juice. “I don’t think I’ve seen you awake this early, actually.” Steve noted and Tony looked up at him with a puzzled look. “Did you stay in your lab until 3am and get 3 hours of sleep?”

“No, actually,” Steve looked surprised. “I fell asleep at 1am and Morgan woke me up.” Tony continued to feed his daughter. “Pep is still sleeping, she had long day too, so I didn’t want to wake her up.” Steve just nodded.

Tony had a strange urge to ask how Bucky was doing. They hadn’t seen each other that much since their fight. It was still very tense between the two.

“How’s Peter doing?” Steve decided to ask. “I thought he’d be there when we arrived yesterday.”

“I thought so too. But he said he had homework for today that he didn’t do so he went home. He’s coming around at 3 though.” Steve nodded, drinking the rest of his juice. Tony had Morgan finish her yogurt and he was now busy cleaning her up.

Tony and Steve hadn’t talked like that in a while. It felt weird for the two men, but still quite nice. Like old friends reuniting.

_“Tony, you can’t just keep him away from your family!” Pepper’s voice was loud, but still soft. “He deserves to meet our daughter.”_

_“Why? Because we stopped an alien invasion 6 years ago? And then a crazy robot?” Tony’s tone was harsh, but it wasn’t on purpose. “He betrayed everyone with the Accords. He betrayed the Avengers. We were supposed to stay together as a team and be there for each other. But he wasn’t. He betrayed me. So how am I ever supposed to trust him with our infant daughter?”_

“On that note, I’ll need you to babysit this little monster. Peter and I haven’t hung out in the lab together in a while, I wouldn’t want her to bother us in any way.” Tony told the supersoldier. “Hear that, sweetie? You’re gonna spend this afternoon with Uncle Steve!” Tony told the toddler and she squealed with happiness.

“Uncle Steve!!” She reached out to him and Steve lifted her up.

“We’re going to have so much fun!” The blond said, kissing her cheek multiple times and Morgan giggled even more.

Peter left school, too preoccupied to care about Flash’s snarky comments he made throughout the day and sincerely apologizing to Ned for not being able to hang out that afternoon. No, he had other plans. But he did promise his best friend that they’d properly hang out next week. Normally, he would be patrolling, as always, but time was approaching 3pm and he didn’t want to let Mr. Stark down. He noticed a familiar black (and very expensive) car waiting for him. Was Mr. Stark really going to pick him up from school? He opened the car door, excitement cursing through his veins, only to see Happy.

“Hi, kid. Tony told me to come pick you up. Apparently you two have some ‘Special Hangout Session’.” The older man explained, and Peter beamed with happiness.

“Did he really call it a ‘Special Hangout Session’?” Peter asked and Happy just rolled his eyes at him. They drove in silence until they arrived at the compound and Peter was visibly nervous. He had no idea why, though. It wasn’t the first time. He just missed it. Maybe he was slightly disappointed that Happy picked him up, and not Mr. Stark himself, but what he didn’t expect was Tony Stark waiting for him at the entrance. He jumped out of the car and lightly jogged over to the billionaire, his backpack hanging off his shoulder.

“Hi Mr. Stark! I’m ready for our Special Hangout Session!” Peter said with the biggest, and quite contagious smile on his face.

“Oh god, I told Happy not to call it that,” Tony shook his head a bit, trying his very best to hide the smile that was creeping up.

“Where’s Morgan?” The teenager asked as they walked inside the building.

“She’s being babysat by Cap this afternoon,” Tony explained as they approached the lab. They stayed silent until they finally arrived at Tony’s workshop. Peter dropped his schoolbag next to a table, noticing a large area hidden underneath a white sheet next to the wall but not bothering to ask about it, and turned to look at Tony, hiding his excitement as best he could.

“So, what are we working on today?” The teenager flashed a grin.

“Mostly just repairs, nothing special really. A few of the Avengers’ gear got used up on their last mission so we need to fix them,” Tony explained, pulling up some holograms of the different equipment and Peter starred at it in awe. “And I was thinking, if we got time later, we could work on a few upgrades for you,” He added, lowering his voice slightly. “Your suit, basically.”

“Okay, that seems cool!” Peter nodded a bit. “Whose stuff are we fixing first? Captain America’s shield? Thor’s cool magic belt? Mr. Bucky’s metal arm?” The excitement bubbled in his chest.

“Relax, Pete. They’re not _that_ clumsy. Clint’s arrows are a bit broken at the tip and the widow bites need an upgrade,” Tony chuckled slightly at the kid’s enthusiasm. “Besides, I don’t think Cap’s friend would come to me for repairing his stuff,” he added, mumbling a little.

“Why not?” Peter had already started their work.

“Well, he doesn’t like me that much, and I’m not really a fan of him either.” The engineer explained, knowing Peter was aware of what had happened a few years back, after their fight in Germany.

“You know it wasn’t his fault, right? He didn’t control his actions.”

“Why are you suddenly on his side now?” Tony asked, playfulness in his tone.

“I’m not, you’ve always been my favorite,” The billionaire raised an eyebrow. “I’m just saying that you should maybe try and see it from his perspective. He didn’t mean to… do what he did. You don’t seem to blame Mr. America as much as you blame his best friend, since you now trust him with your child.” Peter argued.

“I realize that. I just- I don’t know. I guess I wanted someone to blame and, well, he was right there. I guess I didn’t know what to do, or even feel, at that moment. Some part of me just wanted revenge, I think.” Tony spoke and Peter was afraid to say anything. Mr. Stark had never opened up to him like that. Sure, they’d have a few deep talks here and there, but never like _this_.

“It’s not like your reaction was unrealistic. Those were some frankly horrifying news you got and your reaction to them was completely normal.” Peter said in a small voice, choosing his words with care.

Tony had talked about what happened with Pepper and Rhodey, but never like this. He’d always brush it off when either of his friends wanted to know about his reaction. But with Peter, everything seemed to just flow out, like it had been trapped inside of him for too long. Peter just had this special ability to have people open up to him really easily. It wasn’t as if Tony felt uncomfortable talking about it, it was quite the opposite, actually. Both of them stayed silent after that. Until Tony, in full Stark-fashion, changed the subject into something more lighthearted and playful.

“Anyway, I don’t think he would appreciate you calling him Mr. Bucky,” He glanced at Peter. “And I know Cap will feel really weird if you call him Mr. America.” Tony chuckled.

“I know, I just,” Peter paused for a brief moment. “I’ve never formally met them, like, without fighting each other in the parking lot of an airport, and I also really don’t want to be disrespectful.”

“Right, I forgot,” Tony frowned a bit. “He’s in the building right now if you want to meet him. Or, you know, tell him he almost killed you. But on the other hand, I’d get to see what Captain America looks like when he’s having a heart attack.” He smiled to himself.

“I’d rather stay here for the moment,” Peter said quietly.

“Hold on,” Tony looked up from his work, his eyes meeting Peter’s. “Is that why you left early yesterday? To avoid Cap?” He frowned.

“No! Uh- It wasn’t because of that…” Peter started slowly internally freaking out. “I had homework, I told you.”

“Pete, I know you. And I know you wouldn’t pass up any possibility to meet Captain America; even if you had homework. So why did you leave?” The engineer had stopped working and was now only looking at Peter with a slightly worried expression.

“I don’t know. Things haven’t been the same lately,” Peter kept looking down, not wanting to look his mentor in the eyes. “This is the first time in months we’ve hung out like this. Ever since Morgan came along you’ve been… busy.” His voice got lower and lower with every word.

“Do you not like Morgan?” Tony asked carefully, not really knowing how to react.

“No! Of course not!” Peter looked up. “I love her like she’s my own sister. I just missed hanging out with you. And then I saw how happy you were with Morgan and I guess… I guess I just felt like I was intruding on your personal moment with your daughter.” He confessed, feeling really weird about talking with Mr. Stark about this. To be fair, they had both opened up a lot.

Tony bit his bottom lip and stayed silent. It was true. He’d been ignoring Peter without knowing it for a while. Plus, he’s just a kid! They’d grown so close overtime and then Tony just forgets about him.

Tony didn’t say anything. He thought about it a lot, and it only made him feel worse. So, he did the one thing he hoped would make Peter feel better, not caring about what else it would lead to. He walked over to Peter and wrapped him up in a hug. Peter was, to put it lightly, extremely shocked. But he didn’t hold back, instead, he hugged Mr. Stark back and had no intention of letting go.

“I’m sorry.” Tony spoke up, his arms still around the boy. “I promise I’ll spend more time with you from now on.” Peter smiled and was pretty sure he heard Mr. Stark sniffle a bit. On that note, the older man unwrapped himself from the hug and stepped back, not looking Peter in the eyes anymore. He rubbed his nose, trying to pass it off as a tiny cold, but Peter knew.

“I think that was the most open and vulnerable I’ve ever gotten in front of a teenager. Thanks, Pete,” He said, jokingly.

“Anytime, Mr. Stark,” The boy answered happily, and they continued with their work.

Bucky walked out of his room, trying to look for Steve. Sam was taking a nap and as much as he secretly wanted to, Bucky didn’t draw on his face to stop himself from dying of boredom. He didn’t want to admit it, but he felt a bit uncomfortable living in Stark’s building. Technically it was the ‘Avengers Headquarters’, but Tony Stark was responsible for everything involving the building. Things had not been great between the two, especially since Tony had tried to kill him after having discovered how his parents really died. He felt weird when Steve said that they were going to stay there for Tony’s daughter’s birthday party, but Steve being his stubborn self, forced him to come along.

"Tell me a story!" Bucky heard the toddler say happily from what he assumed was her room.

"If you want, kiddo. Do you want to hear about the adventures of the Howling Commandos?" Steve asked.

"Captain America!" She squealed and Steve laughed a bit.

"Exactly. So, the Howling Commandos was a team that fought bad guys all the way back in World War II! There was Junior Juniper, Jim Morita, James Montgomery, Falsworth, Gabe Jones, Jacques Dernier, Happy Sam Sawyer, Pinky Pinkerton, and my best friend Bucky!" Steve started in a story-telling voice. Bucky inched closer to the door, not wanting the two to notice him, but still wanting to listen.

"We fought these really bad guys called Hydra…” Steve said with a low, creepy voice which made Morgan more interested and mesmerized by the story. “They had taken Bucky and a few others, and we came along and rescued them all! Of course, he was very weirded out because the last time he saw me I wasn’t big and strong!”

Bucky chuckled silently.

“So, we went back to our camp, and walked in triumph! Everyone was clapping and congratulating us!” Steve smiled to himself as he spoke, remembering how that was like.

“What happened next?” Morgan asked, wanting to know more.

“Well, we continued fighting all the bad guys until there were none left! At one point we were in this train that was going super-fast, and outside there was tons and tons of snow! You could make a million snowmen with it!” The soldier explained. Bucky frowned, was Steve really going to tell Morgan what happened on the train?

“There was even one point where Bucky was holding _my_ shield! It was really cool to see!” Morgan was amazed at the story. “Back then, he had really short hair. I think I have some pictures of him like that actually.”

“I was maybe thinking of cutting it again shortly after I came back to being… myself, but I think it’s growing on me,” Bucky appeared in the doorway, making Morgan turn towards him and smile.

“Hi, Bucky,” She said, showing him a smile that could easily melt his heart.

“Hey, squirt,” He said, entering the room and ruffling her hair a bit.

“Have you been listening in on our conversation?” Steve sat up. He and Morgan had been sitting on the floor together.

“Maybe. It did feel good to hear about the Howling Commandos again. I had almost forgotten about that,” He said in a low voice and Steve frowned a bit.

Morgan reached up and lightly pet Bucky’s leg, as if she knew everything that was going on lately. Bucky showed her a rare smile and lifted her up, making her giggle, before putting her back down again. Morgan ran over to the other end of the room, clearly looking for something, letting the two soldiers have their conversation.

“Do you remember what happened in the war?” Steve asked, looking up at his best friend with a small frown.

“Yeah, mostly. But sometimes I do forget small things here and there. At one point I even forgot my regiment number. I freaked out a bit and I eventually remembered it, but it was still really weird.” He explained.

“Has this happened often?” Steve questioned.

“Not lately. Being in Wakanda has helped a lot, but there are still a few times where I can’t remember some things.” Bucky told him, and Steve nodded. Morgan, who had found the thing she was looking for, walked back over to the two men, approaching Bucky. She tugged down on his left arm – the metal one – and stuck something on it before walking back over to Steve again. The two men looked confused until Bucky looked at his metal limb and saw a little flower magnet on his lower arm. He tried to hide a smile creeping up on him yet failed.

“Pretty.” They heard Morgan say timidly by Steve’s side and laughter erupted throughout the room.

“Almost done with those worksheets, kid?” Tony asked, but he got no answer.

“Pete?” He asked again.

“Peter?” He turned away from his work and saw the boy, having fallen asleep on the table. Tony smiled fondly and approached him slowly. He placed a hand on the teenager’s back to hopefully wake him up in a gentle way. Tony shook him slightly, not really knowing what else to do.

“Pete,” Tony spoke in a soft voice. “Wake up.”

“I’m up!” Peter suddenly shot up energetically, scaring the engineer slightly and causing him to take a step back. “What is it? Is it a mission? Am I in trouble?” The boy spoke quickly.

“No, no, you just fell asleep,” Tony reassured him. “You seem pretty tired, why don’t we call it a night? Your room is just upstairs.”

“Sure, okay, then,” Peter nodded, grabbing his bag. “I’ll text May and tell her I’m staying here for the weekend.” He told Tony.

“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow. You’ll probably be woken up by an energetic toddler, so get ready for that,” Tony smiled at him.

“Can’t wait,” Peter chuckled a bit, standing at the door. 

“Goodnight, Dad.”

The teenager couldn’t stop the words from his mouth, so instead he just walked out like nothing happened, internally freaking the fuck out. He stopped right beside the door, leaning his back against the wall, his breath becoming faster.

“Friday,” He spoke up quietly, so that the older man couldn’t hear him in the workshop. “Please tell me I didn’t call Mr. Stark ‘Dad’.” He closed his eyes.

“I can confirm that you did, in fact, call Boss ‘Dad’.” Friday said, and Peter just felt worse.

“No no no no no…” He put his face in his hands.

“He seems to be quite fond of your work, Peter.” Friday spoke, sensing his distress and trying to make him feel better. The boy opened his eyes again, peeking into the workshop curiously.

Tony was standing there with a smile, looking at the worksheets Peter had been working on that day. To be honest, he was extremely shocked when the kid had said ‘the D-word’ and he still could not believe his ears. But he was still secretly happy, or, more like extremely overjoyed. Did he see Peter as a son? Maybe. Did he like it when Peter called him Dad? Sure. It’s not like it was the first time he had been called that. Did he freak out? Yes. Still, he was a father now. He admitted it, he had been ‘secretly’ mentoring the kid ever since Germany and was more than delighted to do so. But then the more unpleasant thoughts came. What if he disappoints him? What if Peter doesn’t actually see him as a father-figure and the word was just a mistake? What if he lets Peter down? What if Morgan got jealous? What if-

“Boss,” Friday alerted him. “Colonel Rhodes has entered the building.” Thank god. Rhodey could help him with all of this.

“Thanks, Fri. Tell him to meet me here.” Tony answered and he heard a small pair of footsteps quickly going up the stairs.

Peter hurried to his room, already dialing Ned’s phone number. He opened the door and quickly closed it behind himself, not really bothering to lock it.

“Hey, man, what’s up?” Ned’s voice came through the phone.

“I’m freaking out here, Ned! I messed up! I totally messed everything up!” Peter anxiously rambled.

“Whoa, hey, calm down, Peter. Tell me what happened, from the beginning.”

“Hey, Tones,” Rhodey came through the door. “In the lab as usual? I’m surprised you didn’t bring your-”

“Rhodey, something happened,” Tony swiftly cut him off and the other man quickly turned serious by the use of his ‘name’ and not some ridiculous other nickname.

“Is it bad? Did anyone get hurt? Is it Pepper? Is it Morgan?” Rhodey started freaking out a small bit.

“No, no. Not that,” Tony said, and his best friend exhaled out of relief. “Something with Peter happened today, like five minutes ago, in the lab.”

Both of them then explained, in a lot of detail, what had happened that afternoon. From the intimate and emotional moment they shared:

_“Trust me, Ned. I had never seen this side of him. He was so open and vulnerable; I couldn’t believe my eyes.”_

To Tony having to wake Peter up when he fell asleep on the table.

_“You should’ve seen him, Rhodes! He looked like a baby when he slept. It reminded me a lot of Morgan when she’s asleep…”_

They had very different opinions on those many events that had occurred. But one thing they were both sure of, was that the ‘accidental Dad-calling’ was unexpected and maybe surprising, but also that both of them were sort of happy that it happened. They took it, of course, in two different ways.

_Peter laid face down on his bed, holding his phone close to his ear with his hand. “And then I called him Dad.”_

_“And then he called me Dad.” Tony told his best friend, trying his very best not to cry about it. But it was hard._

Tony recollected himself after the talk he had with his best friend and decided it was best for him to go to sleep now, especially with the hyperactive morning he was going to have the next day. He walked back upstairs with Rhodey following him, who decided to say hi to the others that were in the building before going to bed himself. Tony was on his way to his own bedroom, when he stopped at Peter’s door. He slowly and gently opened it, not wanting to make any noise. He found the boy, in his pajamas, sound asleep in his bed. The billionaire smiled, planted a small kiss on the boy’s head, just like he does with Morgan, before walking down the hallway again. He ran into Steve mid-yawn.

“I put Morgan to bed, but she won’t fall asleep until you’ve said goodnight to her, so I think you better go in there.” Steve informed him. “Everything went well with Peter?”

“It was great,” Tony didn’t bother to hide his smile, because he was truly happy. “You better get some sleep Cap, tomorrow’s going to be hard.”

“I will. Goodnight, Tony.” The blond stepped over to his room.

The engineer then walked into Morgan’s room silently, in case she fell asleep.

“Hi, Daddy.” Or, in case she didn’t.

“Hey, sweetheart. Shouldn’t you be sleeping? It’s getting late.” Tony whispered in a matter-of-factly, walking over to sit next to the edge of her bed.

“Daddy’s not sleeping?” She asked with a smile. She’s getting too smart for her age, Tony thought.

“Well, you see, I’m a grown up, and you’re a little kid. Besides, I was at the lab working with Peter today. That’s why you hung out with Capsicle.”

“And Bucky.” She added. “His arm is pretty now.” The mechanic chuckled.

“Yeah, well, they’re going to sleep too. And you’ve got a long day tomorrow. There are going to be guests, cake, presents… The whole deal. So you better be active tomorrow, and not very sleepy.” Tony said to his daughter.

“Okay,” She answered. “Goodnight, Daddy.”

“Goodnight, munchkin. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I really hope you liked the first chapter! Constructive criticism is appreciated, so are comments and kudos :)  
Please, tell me what you think of it, maybe some suggestions for the future , or how I can possibly improve this / the chapters to come!
> 
> The second chapter will come out next week! (
> 
> Thanks for reading :)) <3


	2. The Birthday Party Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgan's birthday party has arrived! Everyone comes over, and they have a great time opening presents and reuniting.

Peter woke up the next morning in his bed, sort of glad that an overly excited Morgan wasn’t there. He turned around in his bed and groaned, thinking about what had happened the night before. He decided to just forget about it and move on with his day, since other – more important – things were happening pretty soon. He finally sat up in his bed, cursing at himself for forgetting Morgan’s birthday present at May’s. He yawned and stretched before walking out of his room, not bothering to change clothes.

“Hey, Friday,” Peter said, his voice laced with sleep. “Where’s Mr. Stark and Morgan?”

“Boss is currently in the kitchen, enjoying a cup of coffee with some new guests that have arrived. Morgan is still sleeping soundly,” The AI replied.

“’Kay… Thanks…” Peter walked over to the kitchen, still feeling pretty tired. No matter how energetic he could seem throughout the day, he was Not a morning person.

The teenager finally arrived at the kitchen area, hearing the familiar voice of Mr. Stark.

“- a great kid. We got plenty of things in common; we bond a lot.”

“He sounds like a great kid, Stark.” An unfamiliar low voice spoke, with… an accent?

“Hey, Petey,” Tony noticed the boy walking in. Peter was about to say hello back, when he noticed who the billionaire was talking to. None other than Thor fucking Odinson. Peter’s eyes went wide, and his mouth opened just slightly.

He was about to introduce himself, when he realized what he was wearing. A, normal, white, sleep t-shirt and… his Thor pajama bottoms. That is when Peter’s face turned as red as the thunder god’s cape.

The room was filled with silence.

Thor looked at Peter.

Peter looked at Thor.

Tony looked between the two, silently drinking his cup of coffee and secretly enjoying what was happening.

“What a fashionable son you have, Stark,” Thor spoke up, showing his classic smile at Peter, before looking at Tony.

“Thank you,” Tony answered a bit too quickly and Peter’s face just got redder. He had not planned on meeting Thor Odinson like this for the first time. He had actually never thought about it before, come to think of it.

“So, since you’ve gotten to know each other pretty well now, Thor, this is Peter, the one I was talking about, and Peter, this is… as you probably know already judging by your choice of clothes, Thor,” Tony said.

“I’m gonna go change now,” Peter quickly spat out before swiftly turning around and speed-walking back to his room. Everything was going horrible. Peter, the quickest he had ever been, changed into some grey jeans, a science t-shirt, and a jacket, texting Ned all at the same time.

_“DUDE I JUST MET THOR”_

_“WHAT???? WHEN???”_

_“LIKE 5 MINUTES AGO IDK”_

_“How was it?????”_

_“VERY awkward. I chose the wrong day to wear my Thor pajamas.”_

_“Oof yikes dude”_

_“Yeah but I gotta go back now or they’ll think it takes me ages to get dressed. I’ll text you more about it later”_

_“You better”_

Peter hurried back to the kitchen, mostly because he was starving. But first, he decided to properly introduce himself to Thor, who was standing alone, looking around the room.

“So, son of Stark, I really do admire your fashion sense. Those were some mighty looking pants you had there. I would like to know where you purchased them,” He said with a goofy smile, but seeming pretty serious about it.

“Oh, those pants where a gift from my aunt,” He said, regretting it immediately. “And, uh, technically, Mr. Stark isn’t, uh, my actual father. I just helped him with some mission with Captain America and he’s been… having me around ever since,” Peter told the older man.

“You were a part of that fight? Tony Stark invites a mere child to battle with his friends, yet does not bother to invite me? Unacceptable. I love battling with my friends,” Thor shook his head slightly.

“Well, I’m not actually a child, but I get your point, Mr. Odinson.” Peter added.

“Oh, please, call me Thor,” He told the teenager as Tony walked back inside. “Why were you so… red when you saw me?” Thor asked out of nowhere, which just made Peter feel more awkward than he already was.

“I’m just such a big fan of you,” The boy blurted out. “And those pants were really embarrassing to wear in front of you. You’re literally my hero.” Thor felt his own face heat up a bit but kept a smile.

“I am known for having a big base of fans,” Thor said proudly.

“You mean a big fanbase?” Peter asked, trying to hide his own smile.

“Sure, whatever it’s called. Earth has some weird language terms.”

Peter smiled at him, making a mental note to show Thor the wonderworld that is vines and memes, and walked over and opened the fridge to get some milk, but Mr. Stark, who had reappeared in the room, stopped him.

“You can’t eat yet, kid. We’re waiting for Morgan to wake up so that we could have a big birthday brunch or something. Not my idea,” He said, drinking more of his mug.

“But you’re drinking coffee. Doesn’t that count as ‘having brunch’, especially to someone like you?” Peter mentioned, smiling a bit and totally forgetting the presence of Thor.

“No, it doesn’t. I can’t function without coffee. I wouldn’t be standing here without coffee. I drink it so that when Morgan wakes up, I have at least a quarter of her energy,” The older man argued, finishing his cup.

“Can I at least drink a glass of milk? I’m sort of starving here,” Peter raised an eyebrow smiling, completely forgetting about the day before.

“Fine, if you want, knock yourself out, kiddo,” Tony said, turning his attention back to the god, who was watching both of them with a soft smile. “So, when did you arrive? I’m sure you weren’t hiding in my kitchen all this time just to give me a heart attack the morning of my daughter’s birthday.”

“No, actually. Bruce and I left at around 3pm from New Asgard and arrived here 5 minutes later with the Bifrost,” Thor explained.

“Oh, right, you live with Bruce, I forgot. So that’s still going strong, huh?” Tony smirked at the Asgardian.

“The only way I know how, Stark.” The god replied with a big grin.

“Wait, so, who is this Bruce?” Peter asked, looking between the two.

“I’m guessing you’re talking about me,” A soft voice came from behind and everyone turned to see Bruce Banner himself.

“Hi, Brucie! Good to see you again!” Tony smiled when he saw his friend. “So how’ve you been?”

“Life has been great! Thor and I are very happy and New Asgard is a wonderful- Wait, hold on, what’s up with him?” The scientist pointed at Peter who was looking at him with shock written all over his face.

“Oh my god. You’re him!” Peter stage whispered.

“Oh. Yeah, I know, I’m the Hu-” Bruce got cut off.

“You’re Doctor Bruce Banner! The nuclear physicist! I’ve read all of your papers on gamma radiation; my best friend and I are such big fans!” Peter talked quickly and Bruce was ever so confused.

“What?” He didn’t understand how someone would be a fan of _him_ and not the Hulk.

“Your picture is in my school!” Peter said excitedly.

“My _what_?” Now Bruce was freaking out even more, yet also kind of proud.

“Your picture! Hold on, I gotta text Ned!” The teenager said and whipped out his phone.

_“DUDE GUESS WHO I’M TALKING TO”_

_“Is it Thor?”_

_“DR BRUCE BANNER”_

_“HOLY SHIT WHAT”_

_“I KNOW”_

Bruce was looking over at Tony and Thor, with the most confused face expression he could bring himself to show while Peter was frantically tapping away on his phone.

“He’s like that with everyone. And trust me, he hasn’t even met everyone yet.” Tony said calmly.

“To be fair, he did have that same reaction when he met me.” Thor added.

“I… I need some coffee…” Bruce muttered which made Tony laugh.

Bucky heard some voices coming from the kitchen and decided it would be best for him to greet everyone accompanied by Steve and Sam since he knew no one would be truly happy to see him. He found the blond and they walked over to a scene he didn’t quite understand. A teenage boy, whose voice sounded familiar, was rambling on to two other men who both looked very confused and glad at the same time, while Tony Stark was watching them in the background, drinking his cup of coffee.

The boy turned his head just slightly for a split second, catching sight of all three of them before returning back to his conversation. Then he realized who it was.

“Captain America…” He whispered, looking at Steve with wide eyes. “We fought together in Germany!"

"You- What? Hold on, y_ou_ were the kid from Queens!?" Steve couldn't believe what he saw.

"_You _stopped my metal arm so easily?" Bucky added in the same tone.

"_You _stuck me and Mr. Robot Arm here together with that white goo?" Sam also jumped in.

"Uh… Yeah! It's called web fluid. I uh, I made it myself," Peter announced proudly, still feeling a bit anxious.

"Wow, kid," Steve smiled lightly. "How did Tony find you?"

"He uploads these videos on YouTube with him stopping busses or something and they were pretty easy to trace back to. He was also wearing this _hideous_ suit and I just had to give him a new one," Tony jumped into the conversation. "We pretend he's my intern to his aunt and school friends."

"Uh, actually, Mr. Stark, aunt May found out..." Peter said in a quiet voice.

"What? How?"

"She caught me wearing my suit. I think it was right after you had given it back, I tried it on again, and she walked in on me. She freaked out, but it's fine now," Peter explained with a small smile.

"Jesus, Peter. You really can't keep a secret," Tony chuckled and Peter just looked down in shame.

“Anyway, Mr.- Thor, did you also bring your brother Loki?” Peter asked, everyone turning heads towards him as to why he knew about the trickster but also as to why he seemed so calm about it.

“Well, yes. I did.” Almost everyone, except for Bruce and Peter, swiftly turned to look at Thor with anger in their eyes. “But it’s not what you think! He’s a good guy now, I promise,” The Asgardian argued.

“A good guy? Do you not remember what happened in 2012? Does the word ‘Chitauri’ not ring any bells?” Tony spoke.

“There’s a story behind that, I swear! But I do not know the details, maybe he could explain it himself,” Thor told the others. “Loki, I know you’re in this room, please transform back into your human form.”

A small light appeared on one of the chairs at the breakfast bar, and quickly turned into the trickster. He was not wearing his civilian clothes this time, rather choosing to go with the iconic green and black outfit.

“I’m guessing people are requesting my presence?” Loki spoke, his voice reminding Tony of the horrors he had caused.

“Where the hell did he come from?” Sam said, raising an eyebrow.

“That does not matter at the moment,” Thor told everyone, who were all ready to fight. “Loki, please, explain what happened in New York.”

“If you want, brother,” The black-haired man almost rolled his eyes. “Are you familiar with the mad titan Thanos?”

Everyone looked at him with a rather confused expression.

“Well, he had a goal to wipe out half the universe with the 6 infinity stones. He had recruited a few aliens, that he called his ‘children’. I was, regrettably, one of those.” Loki explained, avoiding everyone’s gaze. “He sent the attack to New York through me. He had, in a way that I am still not able to explain, controlled my mind into doing so. I was not responsible of my actions that day.” Bucky softened up just a tiny bit, knowing what that felt like.

“Well, then, where’s this ‘Thanos’ now?” Steve asked.

“I’m afraid he’s dead,” A voice came from behind. 

“Where the hell did you come from, Strange?” Sam spoke again.

“177A Bleecker Street, New York,” The doctor answered. “Basically, I keep a watchlist of individuals and beings from other realms that may be a threat to this world. Thanos was the biggest enemy, and your brother Loki,” He glanced at Thor. “Successfully stopped that threat from ever coming to Earth.”

“How do we know that’s true?” Tony asked.

“I guess you’d just have to trust me,” Strange gave him a mocking smile. “And by the way, congratulations on your daughter’s birthday. I bought her a present, and I’ll happily retrieve to my room now. Thanks for the invite.”

Doctor Strange then proceeded to walk over to the elevator, going towards his guest room.

“Can’t he just knock next time? Like a normal person?” Sam asked, shaking his head just slightly. “This isn’t the first time this has happened.” He said and everyone agreed.

“So, Mr. Loki, is it true you’re the god of mischief?” Peter, who had been strangely quiet all this time, suddenly asked.

“Yes, one of the greatest.” The god replied with a smile, that made Tony uncomfortable.

“That’s so cool…” Peter smiled back, and Loki couldn’t help but feel a little proud. He had always been seen as ‘the bad guy’.

“Oh right, before I forgot, Bruce and I befriended this wonderful woman a while ago who helped us defeat our evil older sister. It’sa long story. Anyway, she’s a very cool Valkyrie, and she lives in New Asgard with us. But she had some other business to tend to, so she’ll be joining the gathering later.” Thor informed them with a smile.

“Great,” Tony spoke. “The more the merrier.”

“I also heard that she’s bringing someone.” Bruce said.

“Morgan’s going to be thrilled. On that note, FRIDAY?” Tony looked up at the ceiling.

“Yes, boss?” the AI replied.

“Tell me when Morgan wakes up. She went to bed late last night, but I think she’s going to wake up soon.” Tony said.

“Got it, boss.”

“Meanwhile, we could all start to prepare the birthday brunch,” The billionaire smiled at the people in the room. “Now, who does what?”

They all starred at him in silence.

“I’ll go get Pepper,” He decided.

“I think that’s for the best,” Steve said.

“Right,” Pepper walked around the room, checking everything. “So, we have the presents here, the table is nicely set, and how’s the food going, gentlemen?”

“It’s going great. We’ve got a variety of food, and a lot of it, so everything is going as planned.” Bruce told the woman, working on some scrambled eggs while Bucky was cooking up some pancakes.

“Great job,” Pepper smiled at the two and walked over to the others.

“Thor, Tony, Peter, how are the decorations?” She asked.

“Perfect, Mrs. Stark,” Peter answered cheerfully. “Mr. Stark and I aren’t tall enough to hang the banners, so we got Thor to do it. We just tell him where to put them and Mr. Loki keeps pointing out everything we do wrong. Mr. Stark gets really annoyed when he does, but nothing bad has happened yet.”

“Is this alright?” Thor spoke.

“Still, no. Maybe scooch it a little over to the right… There we go. Much better,” Tony instructed.

“And how about here?” The blonde woman asked.

“We are checking the guest list,” Steve told her. “A few people are coming in slightly later, so they told us that we could eat brunch without them.”

“So far, we’ve got Thor’s mysterious woman and her friend, Clint and his family, T’Challa and his sister, and Fury that are coming later. The rest are all arriving soon,” Sam explained, and with that note, the faint sound of a spaceship could be heard landing on the roof.

“I’ll go check on that. Continue the great work,” Pepper told them, walking over to the elevator. She stopped at the roof and greeted the new visitors.

“Hello, Pepper,” Nebula spoke, giving her a faint smile.

“Hi, Nebula. It’s good to see you again,” Pepper answered, before looking over to the others that were coming out of the spaceship.

“Pepper, this is my sister Gamora and this is her boyfriend Peter. That’s Drax, Mantis, Rocket, and the tree is called Groot,” The cyborg explained.

“Hi, I’m Pepper Potts-Stark, we met briefly a while ago,” The woman greeted her guests.

“I am Groot,” Groot gave her a small smile.

“Sorry, you probably don’t understand; that means ‘nice to meet you again’.” Rocket said.

“It’s nice to meet you again too,” She answered. “Anyway, let me show you to your rooms. Morgan is still sleeping so everyone is preparing the big birthday brunch. I doubt that she’ll sleep for any longer though.”

Pepper then showed the Guardians where they would be sleeping, as well as a tour around the compound. When they had arrived back to where everyone was, the preparations were done. They all introduced themselves, proceeding now to getting to know each other a bit more.

“Tony, where’s Peter?” Pepper asked her husband.

“He went out to get May a while ago. I sent Happy with him, so they’ll probably be back in around 5 minutes,” He told his wife.

The clock approached 10am as people were getting a bit impatient. Tony was, to be honest, relieved that Morgan didn’t get his awful sleeping habits, but at the same time, he couldn’t wait for her to wake up. Pepper had to stop him multiple times from walking into her room and waking her up, saying that ‘she’s allowed to sleep in on her birthday’. In the meantime, Natasha, Peter, May, Happy, Scott and Hope joined the group, which seemed to have diverted everyone’s attention to talking instead of being maybe a bit bored. Tony sneaked down to the lab, checking everything to make sure his gift was perfect. He dusted some dust off, straightening the white sheet, stopping himself from touching the surprise, in fear that he would ruin it.

“Boss,” FRIDAY spoke. “Morgan seems to be awaking slowly.”

Tony took a deep breath and nodded slightly to himself.

“Thanks Fri, please tell Pepper to get everyone ready and that I’m on my way to her room,” He said, already in the elevator.

He arrived at the floor where Morgan’s room was and stopped at her door.

_“Operation: Go Time_,_”_ the billionaire thought to himself before taking a quick deep breath and entering his daughter’s room slowly.

Morgan sleepily turned her head towards the door, noticing her father and smiling at him.

“Hey there, munchkin,” Tony spoke softly as he approached her bed. “Happy birthday,”

“Hi, Daddy,” The toddler sat up in her bed. “Where’s Mommy?” She asked in a small voice, smiling at him lightly.

“She’s downstairs with your surprise. She’s getting everything ready for you,” The father said. “We’re going to have a big brunch together to celebrate your special say.” Tony picked up his daughter in his arms, turning on the lights in her room.

“And presents?” Morgan asked, resting her head against his shoulder.

“Obviously. It wouldn’t be a birthday party without presents,” Tony chuckled a bit. “But first, we need to get you ready, we can’t walk downstairs in pajamas. Even I’m properly dressed.”

“Okay,” Morgan said, smiling.

After Tony had gotten Morgan ready, which included changing her, putting her into her favorite dress along with other clothes such as socks, brushing her hair and putting on some shoes which he felt went pretty good with the dress, they walked downstairs together. Well, Tony walked with Morgan in his arms. They arrived at the floor where the kitchen and dining room was, along with the living room, and Morgan was excited as ever.

Tony knew that Pepper had heard the ding of the elevator, so he was glad that no voices coming from the other room could be heard.

“Are you ready, Squirt?” Tony asked his daughter, who nodded, before opening the door to basically every single person Morgan had ever met in her life.

“Surprise!” They all cheered, and Morgan was over the moon, giggling and looking around at all their faces. Tony couldn’t help but happily laugh at his daughter’s excitement.

The party was going swimmingly, and Tony couldn’t help but feel so pleased. He and Morgan, along with Pepper, had been going around, greeting all the guests that were here. The little girl was so amazed at all the new people she was seeing, and was particularly fond of touching Loki’s cape, who brushed it off as her being ‘nothing but a small Midgardian creature’, though he would secretly come to realize that he would do anything to protect her, like everybody else. Everyone was happy to greet (and for some, meet) the birthday girl. She was really not the shy type when it came to talking with the people at her party. She’d tell them stories about her Daddy, or even Peter, with her limited toddler language. Though, there were just a few who preferred to stay slightly further away from her.

“Nebula, what are you doing here?” Tony asked the cyborg, who was standing beside the present table.

“I don’t want to cause any harm.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to get too close to your daughter,” Nebula admitted. “I don’t want to accidentally hurt or scare her.”

“Hey, come on, she loves you!” Tony argued. “When you came over for my help, she always wanted to be around you, especially in the lab. Sure, it was a while ago, but she remembers you. She still asks me when her ‘Space Aunt Neb’ is coming back. She basically sees you as family.”

Nebula lightly smiled at the mechanic, who wrapped his arms around her in a hug.

“Thank you, Tony. For everything,” She said, and the billionaire smiled more.

Brunch arrived, and Morgan had the honor to choose which seat each person should sit on around the table. Daddy was sitting next to her, and Peter next to Daddy. Mommy was sitting on her other side, with Space Aunt Neb and her friends, Uncle Steve and Bucky were sitting next to each other as well, along with Uncle Sam, and so on. It seemed so elaborate and thought out that even Pepper could have come up with such a seating arrangement. Everyone ate happily, talking and having fun, especially Morgan.

Half-way through the brunch, Clint and his family arrived and joined them. By the end of it, no one was actually fully eating; everyone was just talking and telling each other stories from their pasts.

_“…One time, we were at that one amusement park, Coney Island, and-”_

_“Oh right, that one time I forced you to ride the Cyclone. That was fun.”_

_“Buck, I threw up.”_

_“That’s why it was fun!”_

While other stories, remained silent, much to the rest of the group’s disadvantage.

_“I’ve always wanted to know this one thing, Romanoff; what happened in Budapest?”_

_Natasha and Clint eyed each other without saying a word._

_“I’m not telling you, Tony.”_

_“Come on! It’s my daughter’s birthday!”_

_“That’s still a no.”_

_“Please?”_

_“Tony, you have to give up now. Even I don’t know what my husband did that probably eventful time.”_

_“It’s mine and Nat’s secret! That’s how we bond.”_

Other stories were even suggested by the audience themselves.

_“Loki, your turn, please,” Morgan said, pointing at the trickster, clearly having enjoyed all these stories from her aunts and uncles._

_“Me? I beg your pardon, but I do not have that many interesting stories to tell.”_

_“Please?” Morgan begged more, showing her signature puppy-dog eyes._

_“Fine,” Loki couldn’t resist those. But then again, no one could. “This one time, when Thor and I were merely kids, he had this obsession with snakes-”_

_“I wouldn’t call it an obsession, brother,” Thor jumped in._

_“Thor, please, I’m telling my story here,” Loki turned his attention back to Morgan. “So, because of this obsession, I decided it would be great to transform myself into a snake with my powerful magic. Thor then walked over to me to admire my snake-form, not knowing that it was I, who was hiding behind that façade. Then, in an act of pure shock-value, I transformed back into myself and yelled out ‘Blergh! It’s me!’ And then I stabbed him.” Tony turned pale, but Morgan was thrilled, probably not fully understanding certain details of the story,_

_“It was all in spirit of fun, of course,” Thor said. “It’s how we bonded.”_

But at one point, everyone had run out of stories and Morgan had only one thing on her mind:

“Daddy, it’s presents time now?” She asked her father, whose lap she was sitting on.

“Yeah, I think it’s time for presents now. What do you guys think?” He turned to the group and they all agreed.

“Let’s move to the living room, then.”

Morgan was sitting in the middle of the room, everyone had pushed the couches aside, around her so they all could see her reaction to her presents. Pepper stood next to the present’s table, ready to hand Morgan her gifts, while Tony had taken out a video camera, wanting to preserve this moment ‘like a true dad’.

Everyone was talking to each other, just like they had done at the table, when FRIDAY spoke up.

“Boss, two women have just landed on the roof. By my calculations, one of them is an Asgardian.”

“That must be Valkyrie!” Thor spoke up. “I’ll go get her immediately.” He said, standing up and walking over to the elevator.

“So, Bruce, how is it being in a relationship with Thor?” Natasha asked, smirking as she raised an eyebrow.

“It’s really amazing. Every part of it. But, uh, there are a few times where he gets confused about Earth’s culture and mixes some things up. We’ve been travelling a lot lately, and a few months ago we went to Rome. We visited the Sistine Chapel and I pointed at the famous ceiling and said: ‘Michelangelo painted this’. He then proceeded to say ‘I’m not stupid, Bruce. I know the ninja turtles aren’t real’.” Bruce explained, and everyone in the room chuckled. “But, he’s really great and we’re so happy together.”

Shortly after, Thor returned with a brunette and a blonde woman.

“Everyone, this is my dear friend, uh… Valkyrie, and her partner Carol,” Thor said with a smile. Carol leaned over and whispered something to her girlfriend, which made her chuckle.

“Uh, Thor, I don’t think I told you, but my real name isn’t Valkyrie. It’s actually Brunnhilde. I’m not named after the warriors,” She said.

“Right, that makes more sense, of course. Sorry for the confusion,” He corrected. “So, this is Brunnhilde and Carol.”

Everyone greeted them with a welcoming smile and a few ‘hellos’.

“Hello,” Tony greeted the two ladies with a friendly smile and a handshake. “I’m Tony Stark, and this is my daughter Morgan. We were just about to open presents.”

“That’s great, because we actually bought her something, too,” Brunnhilde returned the smile, showing a small bag she was holding.

“Daddy!” Morgan pleaded, obviously getting impatient.

“Just a moment sweetheart, we’ll get to your presents. You need to have patience from time to time, okay?” Tony told his daughter, who nodded slightly.

“I guess we have been waiting a while, why don’t you take a seat and we’ll proceed with Morgan’s wish,” Pepper told Carol and Brunnhilde.

“Of course.”

“Which present do you want to start with, honey?” Pepper asked Morgan.

“Uhm… Uncle Bruce,” She answered, pointing at the man as Pepper took his gift from the present pile and handed it to the toddler.

Tony smiled as he filmed his daughter carefully tearing away the baby-blue wrapping paper. Inside, was a kids book with the title ‘Nuclear physics for babies’.

“I felt like she needed to learn this early. We already know she’ll be a genius. I mean, look at her parents!” Bruce explained, and everyone agreed.

“Thank you, Uncle Bruce,” Morgan stood up and gave Bruce a sincere hug. “Uncle Thor now,” she told her mother.

This present, felt squishy in her hands, so she wasn’t as careful opening this one. Thor watched her, eagerly awaiting her reaction.

“Molnor!” She squealed with happiness, looking at the famous hammer, turned plushie.

“Of course! Since mine got destroyed by my sister, I felt as if Mjölnir should have a new owner,” Thor said, with a goofy smile.

“So you’re saying that Morgan is worthy?” Tony raised an eyebrow and smiled at Thor.

“Well, we haven’t discussed the terms yet, and this is merely a toy, but if Mjölnir was here with us today, we could’ve tried,” Thor explained.

“Thank you, Thor,” Morgan walked up to him and pet his head a bit with the hammer.

“Never thought this day would come. I’m being hit with my own hammer by a child.”

More presents rolled in and Morgan was over the moon each time.

Even Loki, who still did not want to admit that he cared for Morgan (even though he was lying), brought her a present. Morgan had insisted on wearing the small black cape with the signature green color on the inside, which made Loki happy.

Carol and Brunnhilde had given her a miniature Valkyrie costume and Tony had to stop his daughter from putting that one on as well.

Steve had gotten her a Captain America t-shirt and Tony’s heavy eye-rolling could be noticed miles away, but Morgan was happy, and that was all that mattered.

Morgan chose Bucky next, who had given her a Lego set. But not any kind of set, this one was specifically designed for children Morgan’s age and was of course a model of the old Avenger’s tower. Morgan was thrilled, but people such as Natasha and Steve, as well as others, were more interested in seeing Lego figures of themselves.

Shuri and T’Challa eventually joined them in the midst of the present opening. Morgan became interested in their present and T’Challa sighed. Shuri handed it to her and Morgan opened it, revealing a black panther stuffed animal. “Get it?” Shuri smiled and the others in the room chuckled.

Scott and Hope joined the ‘give Morgan something that reminds her of you’ trend and gave her a wasp and an ant as stuffed animals (or rather stuffed insects). She was still extremely delighted by the present.

May and Natasha had accidentally coordinated Morgan’s gifts by giving her an adorable headband (May) and a very cute summer dress (Natasha) that just happened to go together miraculously. Morgan gave them both big hugs as well.

“Right, Clint, it’s your turn now,” Pepper said, handing the little girl her present.

“I would like to clarify something first,” Laura Barton spoke up. “I made Clint in charge of buying the present. Just a heads up.”

“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad!” Clint protested.

“Scooter!” Morgan squealed, having opened the present already. And it was in fact, one of those mini scooters with three wheels for toddlers. Everyone turned to Clint with a Look while Morgan admired her present.

“Mommy, can I ride please?” She asked her mother, showing puppy-dog eyes.

“Maybe later, honey. You first need to finish opening your presents,” Pepper answered with a friendly smile.

“Okay,” Morgan said.

“Now, how about we open Space Aunt Neb and her friends’ gift now?” Tony smiled, handing her the weirdly wrapped present.

Inside of it was a normal looking teddy bear, almost as big as Morgan.

“We, uh, we didn’t really know what to give her,” Peter Quill spoke up.

“We walked into the first store we saw and found this bear,” Rocket continued. “We didn’t really have time to decide which one we wanted to buy since the guy looked pretty freaked out, for some reason,” The raccoon explained.

“I am Groot.”

“Yeah, exactly! It was weird.”

“Well, Morgan seems to really love it,” Tony said as he watched his daughter, with a smile, walk over and give each Guardian a big hug, who gratefully returned it.

A few moments later, Nick Fury, almost appearing out of nowhere, walked through the door, with a brand new, miniature leather jacket. Everyone starred at him.

“So that we can match,” He simply said as Morgan walked over to him, wanting to wear it as well. The toddler then walked back to her father, dressed in a leather jacket, a black and green cape, and a cute headband.

“Nick Fury,” Carol spoke up, smirking at the man. “Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Always nice to see you again, Danvers,” He answered, returning a rare smile, which made everyone confused as to how this random woman new Nick Fury _and_ got him to smile.

“Did you bring Goose?” She asked, still happy to see an old friend of hers.

“No, I left her alone in the office with no supervision, knowing what she’s capable of. Of course I brought Goose; Agent Hill is stopping by later with her,” He told the blonde woman.

Everyone starred at the two.

“How do you-”

“We’ll explain later. Right now, we need to open the rest of this little monster’s presents,” Fury said, showing yet another smile, at Morgan this time, who returned it happily.

“Right, okay…” Pepper said. “So, Morgan, here’s Uncle Stephen’s gift. It looks rather… small for a children’s gift, though.”

Strange stayed silent.

“A watch!” Morgan showed to everyone. Tony gave Stephen a Look.

“Being around here with Morgan has made me realize that I know nothing about kids,” Stephen explained. “For example, you,” He pointed at Peter. “How old are you? Like, 7?”

“I’m 18,” The boy answered.

“And if I didn’t know that this was Morgan’s 2nd birthday, I would’ve guessed she was 7 as well,” The doctor continued.

“But, isn’t a watch-”

“Oh, come on, it’s not even that expensive. She’ll just learn to tell time earlier than other kids,” Stephen argued.

“Thank you, Uncle Stephen,” Morgan smiled, giving him a hug as well.

“Okay…that was weird…” Pepper said. “Let’s move on to another gift… Peter?”

“Yeah! It’s, uh, right here,” He said pulling up a nicely wrapped gift.

Morgan opened it and let out a small gasp.

“Spidey!” She said, taking out the almost giant stuffed Spiderman doll.

“I really couldn’t resist when I saw it. And it made me feel better when I saw that other people had gotten their own merchandise for Morgan,” Peter explained.

“Thank you, Peter,” the toddler gave him a hug. “Now Uncle Happy,” the toddler added, and the man gratefully handed her the small rectangle.

“Daddy, look!” She yelled out happily, showing her father the picture frame. “Zoo picture!”

“Oh, right. I remember when we took that picture; it was your first time at the zoo,” Tony smiled, looking at it closer. Happy, Tony and Morgan were all smiling in it. “All three of us are in there, that’s so sweet.”

“Thank you, Uncle Happy,” She said to the man, giving him a big hug.

“I remember that, Morgan was so happy when she came back home,” Pepper smiled. “Especially when she got the stuffed animal you bought her,” She eyed Tony.

“What can I say, I couldn’t resist,” Tony shrugged, smiling back at wife.

“Mommy, your turn now,” Morgan told her.

“What about Daddy’s present?” The woman asked.

“I’m saving that for the end. It’s a very special surprise,” Tony told them both.

“Well, alright, here you go, sweetie,” Pepper gave her the gift.

Morgan opened it and gasped lightly.

“Like Daddy’s light!” She told everyone, showing the t-shirt.

It was, in fact, a black t-shirt with an arc reactor printed on it.

“I had it specially made,” Pepper said. “You already look so much alike, I felt like this was like the cherry on top.”

Tony almost teared up.

Sure, he had had his arc reactor removed from his body, but it was still a key element in the Iron Man suits and as well as his life. Something that really tied them together even more.

“I love it, Mommy,” Morgan went to hug her mother. “Thank you.”

“I guess it’s my turn now, huh?” Tony started, smiling at his daughter. “My present is a bit special, since it’s in the lab and you can’t really move it,” He explained.

“How about you two go down there, and our guests can stay here and hang out,” Pepper asked.

“Yeah, that would be best. I don’t think you can fit like 40 people in my lab,” Tony chuckled slightly. “But I will need your help to film the whole thing; gift, reaction, and all.”

“I’ve got you covered,” Pepper smiled at her husband, taking the camera with them as they entered the elevator.

They arrived at the lab and Morgan was still extremely excited. Tony took her in his arms, and approached the white sheet while Pepper stayed behind to get a good shot of the scene.

“Now, this present will probably get bigger as you grow since you’re still a tiny girl, but it is still fully yours and it always will be,” Tony explained to his daughter. Pepper was smiling at both of them.

“Okay, Daddy. Can I see it now?” Morgan asked, enthusiastically.

“Of course! Here, we’ll pull the sheet off together. Are you ready? Now!” The father said and they both took it off swiftly.

It revealed a small area with a table and a kid-sized chair with some lab equipment and crayons on it. It even had a little lamp. The table was in its own area, but not far from the lab area itself. Morgan was smiling ear to ear.

“This is your own personal lab space where you can do your future homework, play around and experiment with objects, or even just color, if that’s what you want to do. We can have our little father-daughter moments in the lab together, like I do with Peter, but this time just us. Or, with Peter, if you want,” Tony told his daughter.

Morgan probably didn’t realize how meaningful this really was, but that did not stop her from being on top of the world about it. For her, it meant spending more time with Daddy in the lab and getting to play with the Iron Man suits and hanging out with Peter and being a scientist and mechanic just like Daddy.

“Thank you, Daddy,” Morgan hugged her father more. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Morgan,” Tony rested his head against hers. “So much.”

“I swear, you two are going to be the death of me some day,” Pepper said, wiping her eye while she held the camera. Tony approached her, still holding Morgan in his arms, and wrapped his free arm around her in one, big, family hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi again!!!!! thank you all so much for all the support!! :))) it really meant a lot to me!  
here was the second chapter! what did you think? feel free to tell me in the comments! :)  
Anyway, if you're wondering what happened with the whole Thanos/Loki thing or why Tony helped Nebula, these things will eventually be revealed in future chapter! dont worry, I have it all planned out...  
Also, I am not good (at all) with schedules, especially when it comes to writing. So, I will still write as much as I can, and the third chapter will be out as soon as possible! though, I'm starting school very soon, and that has proven to keep me quite busy, but I will try my best!  
Again, thanks for all the support :) <3  
Bye!


	3. The Birthday Party Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second part of Morgan's birthday party!  
Discoveries of others' pasts are made, new friendships come to life, and old relationships become stronger.  
But life isn't all sunshine, rainbows and everlasting happiness.  
There are always problems and challenges ahead, no matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello again!! Here is chapter 3!  
I am so SORRY if its a bit later than what you'd have expected. School has been busy and I've had to experience the worst thing a fanfic writer (or any writer) can...  
WRITERS BLOCK.  
But!! All is well know. :) I feel like my fingers can work properly again and the new Black Widow Trailer certainly helped with finding this love for the mcu again.  
Anyway, I wont bore you anymore with my life, here is the 3rd part of this fic :D

“So, Carol,” Clint started. “Where are you from? And how do you know Fury?”  
“Well, uh, I was born and raised here in the US, I joined the Air Force when I was eighteen and there I met my best friend Maria Rambeau. She and I were chosen as test pilots for the project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. by a scientist called Mar-Vell. Then, one day, Mar-Vell and I were testing this new Light-Speed Engine, but we got hit and we crashed. I shot the engine in the flight because the people who attacked were the Krees, who were the enemy of Mar-Vell, and in the explosion, I got these really cool power, but I also lost my memory.”  
“Hey, I’ve lost my memory too!” Bucky jumped in with a surprised smile.  
“What? No way!” Carol smiled back. “So, anyway, the Kree took me and ‘raised me as their own’ and I was trained by this guy called Yon-Rogg. The Krees transferred his blood into mine and because of a broken piece of my dog tag that I found; I was called ‘Vers’. So, basically, they lied to me about my entire life before the explosion, saying that aliens called ‘Skrulls’ took away my memory and that they were the bad guys in this whole situation. So, our team and I went to search for them and… destroy them.   
“I crash landed on Earth in a Blockbuster in 1995, which is where I met Nick Fury. So, together, along with Mar-Vell’s cat, Goose, we went and searched for them only to realize that the Skrulls only wanted a home and were being hunted by us Krees. I felt so bad and decided to help them instead. I found my best friend again after years – very emotional, by the way – and Fury, the Skrulls, Maria, Goose – my… cat – and I decided to fight the Krees. Then, that whole thing went well, and I was facing Yon-Rogg again. He was telling me the things I had already heard a billion times before: ‘control your emotions’ and ‘show me that you’re capable of doing this’.” She explained.  
“And? Did you do it? Did you have the final show down with the villain? Did you show him that you were capable?” Steve asked excitedly.  
“Nope. I just hit him in the face with a photon blast while he was monologuing, said that I had nothing to prove to him, and walked away,” Carol said.  
“Steve, you could really learn something from her,” Bucky told his friend.  
“Shut up,” Steve answered, with a playful smile.  
“Wait a second…” Clint frowned. “Aren’t you Captain Marvel?”  
“I’m sorry, who?” Carol looked confused.  
“Yeah, I think she is!” Steve jumped back in, recognizing an icon when he sees one.  
“Hold on, is it pronounced ‘Marvel’ or ‘Mar-Vell’?” She asked.  
“Marvel, why?”   
“I’ve been fooled,” Carol said. “Fury!”  
“What is it?” The man walked into the room.  
“Why did you tell these guys that I’m called ‘Captain Marvel’?” She asked him.  
Steve and Clint just looked on, secretly wishing they had some popcorn.   
“Well, you see… You’re such a powerful hero and I wanted to use you as an ex-ample for…” He gestured towards Steve and Clint. “the others. They’re not exactly the best superheroes out there.”   
Clint gasped. “Is that why you always use to say that one thing?”  
“Oh my god, yes! He always used to say that!” Steve said.  
“What thing?” Carol stared down at Fury, even though he was taller than her.  
“Well, I sent a group of people, such as Barton and Rogers, as well as others, to fight Earth’s enemies: the Chitauri in 2012 and Ultron in 2015, for example. But, they don’t have the best teamwork spirit, especially with the Sokovia Accords. So, eve-ry time they would mess up, I would say…”  
“Captain Marvel wouldn’t do this to me…” Steve and Clint both reenacted at the same time, slightly overly dramatized.  
“Huh. We hung out once in the 90s and I stuck with you,” She smiled lightly, in a friendlier way. “That still doesn’t explain the name.”  
“Look, you needed a cool name, like every other superhero, Coulson was very enthusiastic about Captain America, and I didn’t want to undermine you, so I called you Captain Marvel.”  
“Honestly, it may not be accurate, but I like it,” Carol said, smiling. “But is it true that you have Captain America part of your team?”  
“I’m literally right here,” Steve said.  
“No way! You’re, like, almost a myth in the air force!” Carol smiled at Steve.  
“Wh- Really?”   
“Yeah! But my best friend and I always make fun of you since the only time you flew a plane, you crashed it.”  
“I did it to save the world!”   
“True, but still.”  
“Agent Maria Hill has entered the building with an unidentifiable creature,” FRI-DAY said, interrupting their conversation as Tony, Pepper and Morgan reappeared.  
“Is that Goose?” Carol asked.  
“It sure is. You know, she was a legend in SHIELD,” Maria Hill said, entering the room where everyone was chatting and having a good time.  
Before Carol could walk over and greet the flerken, Fury was already hallway there.  
“Hey there, superstar!” The man said in a soft voice, already showering Goose with kisses and cuddles.  
“I guess some things never change,” Carol said, while everyone looked on with a quite puzzling expression.  
“I’d never think that Nick Fury would be a cat person…” Tony mumbled to Pep-per.  
“So how’s my cat been?” Carol finally asked Fury who was holding Goose in his arms.  
“Your cat? How dare you call it your cat? Who took care of it for the past 20 years? Who fed it and gave it a proper home for almost two decades?” Fury pro-tested, holding Goose closer to him.  
“Well, first of all, it’s not even cat so I don’t know why we’re calling it that, second of all-”  
Thor gasps.  
“Is that a flerken?!”   
“A what?” Bruce asks.  
“A flerken! They are these mighty and rare creatures! I’ve always wanted to see one with my own eyes…”  
“Yeah, basically!” Carol told everyone. “A flerken is a being that looks a lot like a cat, yet has giant tentacles coming out of its mouth when attacking via a small portal located inside the body. Can be very dangerous.”  
“You know, she actually helped me quite a bit when Hydra was taking over SHIELD in secret. I first started noticing when she would try to eat almost every agent that came across her,” Fury explained. “If she acted aggressive towards any agent, I knew I couldn’t trust them. That’s why when Goose immediately started purring upon first meeting, I knew I could trust Agent Romanoff with my life.”  
“Look, Daddy, kitty!” Morgan said, walking over to the creature and starting to pet her.  
Tony was about to stop her, when Goose almost immediately started warming up to her. Though, that did not stop him from staying very close to his daughter, in a protective way, in case anything bad were to happen. Fortunately, that was not the case.   
“Right,” Steve spoke, “Let’s get this party… continuing.”

And they did. This birthday party had quickly turned into a casual hang out be-tween everyone, much like the party the Avengers had had right before Ultron was born. Of course, Morgan was still the center of attention, but it didn’t feel like an ordinary kid’s party. Then again, nothing about any of their lives had been ordinary.  
The stories came again, soft music was being played by FRIDAY over the speakers, nothing could go wrong in this moment, and that was what everyone needed right now. A moment to relax after all the chaos they’ve been through.

“So, I was driving around, looking for the entrance,” Tony continued to explain to the group. “And just as I’m about to turn, I see this sign that says: ‘Road Work Ahead’, and I-”  
Two teenagers pipe up.  
“Road Work Ahead? Uhh, yeah, I sure hope it does,” Shuri and Peter exchange a Look, both of them quite surprised by the fact that they had said this iconic phrase at the exact same time, with the exact same tone.  
“My god…” T’Challa spoke. “There’s two of them…  
“What the hell just happened?” Sam asked.  
“Sam, there are children around you…” Steve carefully warned, trying not to say the famous word everyone had teased him with.  
“I know, I know, I’m just trying to understand what the two teenagers here are talking about,” He says.  
“Aren’t we all,” Tony added.  
Peter and Shuri then started lively talking to each other with a lot of enthusiasm and vine references. For the adults around them, it could be a bit hard to under-stand exactly what they were saying, especially when they started to talk about their common interest in science. But they were having fun, and that was basically all that mattered.

The party came to an end at a pretty late hour, and everyone slowly retreated to their respective rooms. Peter had helped Tony with the clean-up, even though the man had told him not to, it’s fine, he can do it by himself.  
“I think we’re done here,” Peter said.  
“Yeah, it’s getting late. You should go to sleep, everyone already is,” Tony told him.  
“Aren't you going to sleep, too?”  
Tony pauses for a moment. Was he? Or was he going to spend the night at the lab again even though Pepper has told him multiple times not to?  
“Yeah, of course I am, it’s been a long day and I don’t want to admit it, but I am pretty tired now. I’ve recently found out that toddlers make me more exhausted than science. The hard way,” Tony said. He hadn’t been sure in the start, but decided mid-ramble that, yeah, he could really use the sleep.  
“Seems fair enough,” Peter gave a tired smile. They had finished cleaning most of the room, but Mr. Stark kept telling Peter to just go to bed, they’ll clean the rest in the morning, so Peter finally did.  
“Going to bed?” Tony asked, seeing Peter walk out of the room slowly.  
“Yeah, you’re right, we’ll clean the rest tomorrow,” He smiled again.  
Tony smiled back. “Alright, goodnight, kid. Love ya, Peter.” He said right before Peter had left the room.  
At any other point in time, Tony would’ve freaked out. I mean, he had just told Peter that he loved him, and that was not something he did a lot. But right now, it felt right. And, fuck, he was happy at that moment. It was one of those moments you have where everything around you is just the way you wanted them to be, maybe not perfect, but close to it.   
So there, Tony Stark stood, in the middle of a room, that still looked sort of messy, having just celebrated his daughter’s birthday, said ‘I love you’ to the boy he basically saw as his son for the first time, smiling like a goddamn idiot. And that wasn’t something that happened often either. 

Peter was walking peacefully to his room, in the same state as Tony, like father like son. Basically, he was really happy. Not only because Tony fucking Stark had told him that he loved him, but also because he felt as if it was something Tony had done to show that the feeling was mutual, after Peter had embarrassingly called him ‘Dad’. A part of him wanted to call someone; May, Ned, anyone. But another part was so tired and didn’t feel as if it was that necessary. So, he did the logical thing and just went to bed, his smile not leaving his face.

The next morning was pretty normal, actually. It was 10am, almost everyone had gathered around to eat breakfast together, even though it wasn’t exactly planned. Not necessarily talking about anything special, just enjoying each other’s companies.  
In the middle of a lively conversation between most of the people sitting around the table, Tony, whom was sitting next to Peter by any chance, whispered some-thing into his ear.  
“Kid, wanna go to the lab after this? I’ve got new ideas for your web-shooters.”   
Peter’s face lit up.  
“Sure, I’d be happy to.”  
Tony smiled back. He loved quality time with his son.

“Alright, kiddo, let’s get things started,” Tony pulled up a hologram with a simple flick of his hand. “I’ve done some brainstorming and thought it could be easier for you to fight crime and eventually something bigger than that, if your web fluid had special capabilities.”  
“How so?”  
“Like for example, some could have this electrical charge or something, which powers up with the help of your web-shooters every time you fire them.”  
“Ohh, right, I get it. Like maybe with the speed that it has when it’s coming out of the web-shooter, something inside the formula lights or sparks up causing it to have these electrical capabilities. Perfect for paralyzing villains.”  
“I knew you’d understand. I’ve also written down some other ideas with the same sort of motive, but different abilities.”  
“That seems cool. Maybe a bit of a challenge, but I’m here for it!”  
And then they got to work. Surprisingly, this would be one of the longer conversations they’d have while hanging out in the lab that afternoon. A lot of the time it was just pure silence; and not because they didn’t have anything to talk about or because there was this awkward silence lingering in the air, but because they simply did not need to.   
Some sort of connection was linking both of their brains together, causing them not to have to explain to each other what they should be doing or even needing a helping hand. Pepper, who had come down to give the boys their lunch – knowing they needed to spend time like this – caught Tony, staring blankly at a new prototype web-shooter which caused Peter to hand him a screwdriver, not lifting an eye from the work he was doing. Tony continued to work on the web-shooter with the tool that was given. Not a word was exchanged.  
Though, there were those few times where words actually came out of their mouths, but how that actually happened was a big mystery.  
That made Pepper bring Bruce down to see what he’d think of their special ex-changes. At one point it looked like Tony was really focused on finding the answer to this one thing that was bugging him, so he mindlessly looked at what Peter had been working on. That made Peter look up at Tony – they were now locking eyes – and they stayed there for a few seconds before Peter said:  
“Four.”  
Tony nodded, wrote it down, and they both proceeded with their work, like it nothing happened. Pepper wishes she could’ve snapped a picture of Bruce’s re-action to what had just happened. It really seemed like those two minds were actually connected in a way that not even Bruce Banner probably could explain. Pepper left Bruce alone in the lab, since he was already deeply concentrated on what was happening – a bit like the two other science-heads – and started to call May and talk about this confusing instance.  
May, just like Pepper, found this confusing, yet still funny and sort of ironic. But they both knew their respective boys pretty well and something just told them that this was as normal as it could be.  
Morgan had woken up from her nap and Pepper had to attend to her, so she said goodbye to May, promising that they should hang out one day, just the two of them and catch up a bit and talk. They had both needed that sort of break. 

A few hours later, around the afternoon, Tony and Peter finally came back from their lab-bonding-session-thing. Morgan greeted them with a big smile and a “hel-lo” to both. Bruce had left a little earlier, he had gotten what he wanted from observing the two others and their behaviors; the two obviously not having noticed he had been there at all.   
“Hey, Mr. Stark,” Peter started. “Is it cool if I invite Ned over one day? I really want to show him the lab since he hasn’t seen it in person before. And he’s also got some really cool ideas for small upgrades to the suit. Please?”   
“Sure, have at it. Invite your other friends, too, if that’s what you want. Just make sure to tell me when you go downstairs and remember not to touch certain things I’ve told you not to, especially when I'm not around.”   
“Cool! Thanks Mr. Stark,” He smiled.  
“Jesus, kid, I feel like this the 1000th time I’ve told you this,” Tony lets out a very small sigh and smiles at the boy. “Call me Tony. We’re there.”  
“Oh, yeah, of course,” Peter’s smile got bigger, remembering the familiar choice of words Tony had said to him in the car that one faithful evening that felt like such a long time ago.  
We’re there.  
“And who, knows, maybe I’ve got a young friend around your age who likes to experiment, too,” Tony winked.  
Peter raised an eyebrow. Who could that-

His thought was interrupted by FRIDAY, alerting the building.  
“An unauthorized entity has been threatening the city of Queens. By my calculations, it’s best to have most of the team present, but not all.”  
Tony’s instincts kicked in, along with a tiny worry.  
“FRIDAY, give me a location on everyone in the building,” He said, already get-ting ready.  
“The Avengers including Mr. Barnes, Ms. Parker and Mrs. Potts-Stark are all in the building, the Guardians are out sightseeing, and Loki is back in Norway.”  
“Thanks FRI. Alert the Avengers, all of them, tell them to suit up and that we’ve got something to take care of,” Tony spoke in a serious tone. “Peter, I need you to-”  
“Come with you? Go on a mission with everyone? Really be a part of the team?” Peter asked, too excited.   
“Sorry, but I really need you on babysitter duty. I know Pepper has some work stuff to do, and there are other kids whose parents need a break or are occupied. I know this sucks, and I’m really sorry, but I really need this right now,” Tony looked Peter in the eyes.   
Peter sighed, looking very visibly disappointed.   
“Fine,” He said in a low voice. “Who do I need to take care of?”   
“Let’s see, uh,” He thought for a minute, his brain and thoughts were going to damn fast and he felt like he couldn’t concentrate properly.  
“Mr. Stark? Are you okay? Mr. Stark?” Peter got worried; Tony looked way too stressed.  
“Yeah, sorry,” He frowned deeply. “I just- uh, I… I don’t- just ask FRIDAY, okay? I need to take care of this as soon as possible,” Tony spoke quickly as he walked in a very fast pace towards the doors, his suit starting to appear and him blasting off towards Queens along with the others following him in their own method of transportation.  
Peter stood alone, watching them leave without him. He would’ve been mad at Tony for leaving him at the compound with ‘babysitter duty’ but he had other worries right now. How could he not have answered such a simple question? He didn’t look well, and was he really in a state to combat villains and set his own, plus many other lives in danger?  
“FRIDAY, locate all the kids in the building, please,” Peter said in a voice laced with worry.  
“Of course, Peter,” There was some sort of softness in the robotic voice.

Peter reunited all the kids in the big living room, putting on a children’s movie to distract them from what was happening with their parents. Clint’s kids and Cassie were half watching the movie, half playing with each other. Morgan was sitting next to Peter on the couch, enjoying a small snack, not quite understanding why her daddy wasn’t here.  
Peter looked at his phone, checking the newsfeed of the Avengers in combat, sighing. Morgan moved slightly and placed her hand on Peter’s phone, as if she wanted him to think about something else. It worked, sort of. Peter looked up at the little girl and smiled at her, she smiled back.  
“You okay?” She asked in her small voice and Peter took her into his arms.   
“Yeah. Yeah, I am.”  
There was a tiny moment of silence.  
“Peter,” Cassie asked, “Can we do something else now? It’s starting to be a bit boring and the movie just finished.”  
“Of course!” Peter switched back to his normal happy self, not wanting the kids to worry, too. “Alright, I’m thinking, let’s play this game…”  
Honestly, Peter was slightly surprised at how good he was with kids. They were all having the time of their lives, without being overexcited. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help but check his phone every 2 minute or so, wanting to see where the Avengers were in the process of protecting the city of Queens. Nothing bad really happened, they got a few punches and all here and there, nothing they weren’t used to. He didn’t know why he was so worried. Was it because he and Tony had gotten a better and more meaningful relationship? Was it Morgan? I mean, he had grown into somewhat of an older brother to her. Peter sighed al-most internally. He just couldn’t think about anything else. Of course, his main focus was the kids, but his brain and thoughts kept reminding him what was happening right now a couple of miles away. But there was still this other thing that bugged him. Why did Tony act so weird? He looked like he was basically on the verge of a panic attack. Was that Peter’s fault? No, it couldn’t be… right?  
He excused himself to the bathroom, trusting the slightly older children to look af-ter the others, in the short time he had to go. He walked over to the nearest bath-room, locked himself in and looked in the mirror.   
He was a mess.  
He looked like he hadn’t slept in days. His hair was all messed up, his eyes looked stressed but tired at the same time, and his usual smile and positive energy had gone away. Far away.   
And why all this? Why did he look like that in this sort of situation? It had only been a few hours since the Avengers left, and it’s not like Peter was the only (young) adult in this house. What the hell happened to him?  
But he was an adult now. He turned 18 a few days before Morgan’s birthday, so now he had to act like one. First, he splashed some water on his face, hoping it would refresh him enough to stop worrying. Then he left the bathroom, walking back towards the kids, convincing himself that yes, this was important, and yes, you should probably talk to Tony about.   
It still felt weird to use his first name. Even in his own thoughts.

Tony was on his way back to the compound. They had defeated the villain, the city was saved, everyone was happy, blah blah blah…  
His teammates knew something was wrong during the fight, after only a tiny bit of not paying attention and getting himself hurt completely unnecessarily. They just didn’t know what it was, but to be honest, neither did he.  
But he knew one thing, and that was that he had to talk to someone about it. And the good thing was…  
He knew exactly who.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so.... how was it?  
did you like the angst I sprinkled in at the end? as I said previously, life isn't all sunshine and rainbows...  
can you tell that writers block was involved in all of this or not?  
and did you like the extremely little reference to an old and underrated character? if not, you'll surely know who it is in the next chapter because I am already planning it.  
PS: thanks to ALL OF YOU for your nice comments, kudos, and everything else!! every single one makes me happy, so feel free to keep going :)  
See you in the next chapter!!  
goodbye!!~~


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